1. Introduction The remedy was made by exposing powdered milk sugar to a powerful telescope in Boston, Massachusetts while it was focused on the planet Saturn during April 2009.

The remedy was triturated to a 3C on July 25, 2009 by a group of 7 people in Buffalo, New York. Six of the 7 ground and scraped the milk sugar while one person took notes. Two knew what the substance was; the rest did not. The provers were: four white females: ages 24, 38, 54, 54 three white males: ages 18, 19, 24

2. Saturn in astronomy, myth, and astrology As a homeopath and astrologer, I have been fascinated by the homeopathic application of the planetary lights (Venus) and other celestial remedies such as Luna, Sol, and Polaris, as well as the astrological overlap with homeopathic Uranium, Neptunium, and Plutonium. The first planet I could get my hands on, as it were, was Saturn – very visible this past spring in the night sky and one of my favorite astrological subjects. I was very interested to see if there were an overlap between the astrological meanings and the homeopathic ones, since that has been the case with the other celestial remedies.

The Planet Saturn is the sixth planet in our solar system, known for its beautiful rings and at least 18 moons. The rings are made up of solid particles such as ice crystals, silicates, and minerals that were pieces of meteors. Saturn’s composition is largely hydrogen and helium, with some water, ammonia, methane and rocky matter. It is assumed that its core is metal (perhaps iron) and rock. Its atmosphere is 97% hydrogen and 3% helium.

Myth Saturn the planet was named for the Roman deity Saturn, who was Kronos to the ancient Greeks, a god of the harvest and agriculture (not to be confused with Chronos, or Aeon, the Greek deity of epic and non&#8208;personal time). In Babylon, Saturn was also a harvest deity called Ninib, and in Chinese and Japanese culture Saturn is referred to as the “earth star.” The Greek god Kronos (which derives from the Greek word for “horned,” suggesting the pre - classical pagan Horned God) was a Titan, one of the race of powerful deities born of the union between Uranus (the sky) and Gaia (the earth). The Titans ruled over the earth in a mythical Golden Age preceeding the age of the Olympian gods, and during this time, Kronos was the main deity in charge, overseeing crops, grains and the harvest. He was usually depicted with a sickle, which he used to harvest crops and kill his father Uranus. According to Wikipedia, ancient Romans held a great feast called Saturnalia around the time of the winter solstice. This event, held to commemorate the Golden Age of Saturn Kronos and honor the Saturn Temple, was essentially an event to eat, drink, and be merry, to exchange presents, and generally carry on. “During Saturnalia, roles of master and slave were reversed, moral restrictions loosened, and the rules of etiquette ignored… This was a time of total abandon and merry making. It refreshed the idea of equality, of a time when all men were on the same level. Christians adopted the feast and renamed it Christmas. When the festival ended, the tax collectors appeared and all money owed out to government, landlords, or creditors had to be accounted for … .”

Astrology There are many overlapping meanings between the Saturn of myth and astrology. Saturn rules Capricorn, which begins on the winter solstice. Saturn is often depicted as a Horned God, a goat, although over the centuries and perhaps since Christianity, Saturn’s meanings have moved away from the rowdy earthiness of Saturnalia and become more heavy and restrictive. His imagery includes the sickle of the Greek god Kronos, associating him with the passage of the personal time of a human life, old age, and death. (The Romans associated Saturn with calendars…) Even that part of Saturnalia which involves settling accounts is associated with Saturn and Capricorn. Yet Saturn is a complex symbol in astrology, far deeper than the mundane reading of it as simply obstacles or limitations. As the planet associated with the sign Capricorn its meaning has to do with manifestation. It is a very earthy planet ruling a very earthy sign. In Capricorn, we make manifest our internal reality and our destiny in the world. In doing so, we set limits, create discipline and master our fate. In choosing one form over another, we focus our energy into a specific concrete manifestation. Saturn, as Capricorn’s planet, helps us do that – or in some cases, hinders us. It is the planet of externalizing our inner structures, which is why the Saturn’s orbit or “return” at ages 29 and 58 can be so challenging.

Because Capricorn is Cancer’s opposite, the inner reality we are structuring is an emotional one – thus the glyph for Capricorn is actually the mythological sea goat. The goat is a symbol often associated with Capricorn because of its rather hellious and randy disposition, a holdover of the pagan Horned God; that it lives in the sea means that it carries the meaning of water, of emotions. Whatever our internal emotional environment, Saturn’s structures and choices reflect those unconscious needs, fears, and delusions. Thus, sometimes the ways in which we structure our lives end up reflecting our unconscious issues – and then Saturn feels limiting, oppressive, restrictive. Liberating Saturn is one of the most important things to do in a lifetime so that we can create life’s structures with purpose and freedom.

Saturn and the Body Astrologically, Saturn is said to be associated with the structure of the body, the bones, and especially the spine, knees, and teeth. As mentioned above, Saturn also is connected to old age and maturity, the cycles of time and aging. The goat aspect of Saturn is connected to robust sexual expression.

3. The Proving themes and excerpts

Spaciness, High feeling, Drugs The trituration process began with lots of giggling and silliness; and throughout there was talk of getting high, stories about getting high. Senses were distorted. One prover kept seeing smoke rise from the milk sugar as she ground and scraped. “Drugs come into the mainstream… truckers used speed to stay awake. Ecstasy was first used for marriage counseling.” “I’m feeling really high… spacey.” Provers were laughing until the tears came. “You guys are ripped.” “I feel like I smoked.” “Sound is distorted as if I’m high…” “Do you remember the first time you smoked?”

Music One prover jotted down chords on a piece of paper. There was a long conversation in which provers named their 5 favorite Beatle songs of all time. One prover told a story of a man with severe short term memory loss; the only things he could recall were “music and love.”

Provers were humming and singing “stand by me, “dust in the wind, “when the night has come.”

Food/Drink The conversation kept circling back to pizza: “Any food in the universe can be better with cheese.” “The best pizza in the world was in Italy – pumpkin and mascarpone.” “I’m getting hungry.” “oven roasted peanuts….” “Boston baked beans are popular in Boston. “ “Lemonheads are still 25 cents; always have been.” “I’m excited about a Kalamata olive pizza – no sauce but olive oil, cheese, tomatoes . I am so excited I bought pizza dough.” One prover demonstrated a seductive way of eating a sandwich: “if I could get food that way I would never be hungry…” Provers were very thirsty, drank a great deal of water.

The Horned God: Sensuality, Eroticism One prover made a drawing on his notepad - it started out as a drawing of one of the other provers but then he added horns and a beard. It looked like Pan, or a satyr. From the start, conversation was filled with erotic double&#8208;entendres (“How’s my technique?” ) . The chords one prover wrote were to a song another prover heard as “erotic computer” and another as “erotic amputee.” One prover demonstrated a seductive way of eating a sandwich: “if I could get food that way I would never be hungry…” “I want to draw you naked…” Story about Angelina Jolie tongue kissing her brother at the Oscars.

Time The timekeeper had tremendous difficulty keeping track of the time for the grinding and scraping of the remedy throughout the entire process. One prover made a list of dates going back 10 years and wanted a major historical event named for each year.

There was a long discussion about 1969, Woodstock, Chappaquidick, the moon landing, and also about time speeding up and slowing down. “ Funny how time gets so blurry no matter how much we try to define it.” “no matter how old we are we perceive ourselves as young and in the moment. Discussion of “My stroke of Insight,” the memoir of the stroke survivor who is also a neuroscientist. Provers recalled incidents when time had slowed way down, such as an accident was happening. “ Life and death moments go in slow motion.”

Physical Endurance, Survival, Accidents, Nerve and Bone damage There was a long discussion about people going through life threatening events and exhibiting almost inhuman strength or endurance in order to survive. “A guy was picked up by a tornado, dropped from several hundred feet &#8208;&#8208;- he didn’t break a bone.” “Free style runners know how to manipulate their bodies so that they don’t get hurt.” “A man in an avalanche lifted 1000 lb rock off of himself…”

Provers told many stories of themselves and people they knew surviving bad car accidents, many broken bones, broken backs and necks. Long discussion of phantom pain, amputations, strokes, memory loss, multiple knee surgeries, about how people re&#8208;learn movement.

Disasters, End of the World, Death When identifying key events for the list of dates mentioned in the section about Time, the only events that were named were disasters and wars– Katrina, the Tsunami, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan &#8208;&#8208; and significant people’s deaths. There was a discussion about how the world was supposed to have ended on 6/6/06, and now again in May, 2012. That date had been changed to December 21, 2012, a prover said. “That is my birthday, the winter solstice,” commented a prover. “how do you want to die?” “in a bear fight…” Discussion of the movie “Grizzly Man, “ and how he was ultimately killed by bears.

From High to Low Toward the end of the trituration, near the 3 hour mark, provers’ energy flagged and they described feeling “lost and confused…over time it begins to piss you off, not being able to fully participate in life, what is happening … I will just check out.” “I feel exhausted and a little drained.. .. At first there as definitely a physical / mental high, then I felt really out of it and now tired.”

“I feel tired as well as airy, light&#8208;headed… Interested as to what purpose this serves.”

Physical Symptoms:

Itching

The female provers especially experienced a great deal of itchiness:

Head, nose, eyes itchy. Head itchy. Back itchy, breasts itchy, thighs. Waves of itchiness in various parts of body, especially head. Desire to yawn and stretch

Hands shaky, numb. Legs numb. Feet numb. Right hand stiff and sore. Left shoulder ache. Back ache between shoulder blades. Achey all over

Distortion of senses

Sound distorted. Spaciness Incoordination: Spilling milk sugar

Urination Frequent

Conclusions It is interesting that the trituration proving reflected some themes of Saturn that appear in myth and astrology. (The spontaneous drawing of the Horned Pan figure is of course amazing!) From a homeopathic point of view, both the physical symptoms that appeared and the content of the discussion during the proving suggest that this remedy might be effective for accident&#8208;related trauma, bone and nerve damage. The Titan&#8208;like quality of strength, survival and endurance seems connected; perhaps an ability to survive disasters is part of this remedy. This remedy may also be effective for allergies, in light of all the itching that occurred. Emotionally, we see the ‘lighter’ side of Saturn less a sense of weightiness and more of an emphasis on eroticism and fun. (The trituration itself had some saturnalian elements!) This could be because it is a planetary light. Towards the end of the trituration, we saw some of the more serious aspects of Saturn emerging, although throughout the proving and underneath all the silly banter were some heavier themes – most notably the accounting and recounting of history and disasters.

Thanks to Sally Williams for convening the provers and organizing the session!

Patricia Maher pmaherhomeopath@me.com

Patricia Maher practices homeopathy and astrology in Boston, MA and throughout the Northeast US.